1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the management of contact centers and in particular to the provision of methods and systems for collaboration in the management of such contact centers.
2. Description of Related Art
Contact centers are complex systems in which human contact center agents, external customers, supervisors and business managers interact with communications systems (such as voice and video interactive communications systems), automated applications (such as interactive voice response (IVR) and media servers), and systems for managing the operation of the contact center itself (such as queue allocation mechanisms, skillset matching mechanisms, agent resource deployment mechanisms, supervisor configuration tools, and so on).
Supervisors of contact centers are employed to allocate resources in the most efficient manner possible, depending on current demands, which can mean reallocating agents between queues, drafting in additional resources (including adding entire additional contact centers to a network of such centers), and changing operational variables such that customers are directed to different queues. In order to achieve these goals, supervisors are typically provided with desktop applications which provide access to the functions of the contact center and allow them to alter the operation of the various systems which control the operation of the contact center.
A difficulty arises where different supervisors are attempting to solve either the same or different problems in their own areas of responsibility. Due to the interaction between all of the contact center resources and systems, the actions of individual supervisors may be uncoordinated and may not result in optimal performance over the contact center.
A further shortcoming of current methods of managing the operation of contact centers arises from the fact that supervisors may not have available to them all of the information, or indeed all of the knowledge and skills, relevant to a particular situation. For example, changes to agent allocations may require cooperation with human resources or personnel departments. Changes in contact center loads may be anticipated or managed better with the benefit of input from business managers or marketing departments who will be aware of reasons for increased or decreased activity, allowing supervisors to make better decisions.